Dangling 61 dizzying stories above Philadelphia’s streets, a workman carefully daubs caulk on One Liberty Place’s sky-high glass gables.
Vicki Lee (’92), owner of Old Philadelphia Associates, keeps a careful eye on the work, rigging, and necessary safety procedures.
Vicki’s an anomaly, a female powerhouse in the almost-exclusively male business of commercial building restoration.
A native of Taiwan, Vicki originally considered a career in architecture, but her path took a different route: courses at community college led to a degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, followed by another degree from Cabrini.
Working through school, Vicki took a job with a very small exterior-masonry company.
“At that time, Old Philadelphia Associates was just three partners, all moonlighting from regular jobs, with annual revenues of only $30–$40K.”
Vicki learned to write business plans and came back with recommendations: focus on commercial work and get bigger ... a lot bigger. Over time, she offered to buy out the other partners.
“Since we were such a small company, it wasn’t a large purchase,” Vicki notes.
As a woman-owned business, Old Philadelphia Associates qualified for 8(a) funding from the federal Small Business Administration, but it wasn’t a ‘magic bullet.’
“The program helps small companies get traction towards large projects, but every job we applied for asked the same question: ‘Do you have references for similar work?’ We didn’t. Finally, another contractor with a huge project kindly gave us a small job, and it got us going.”
That ‘gift’ job opened doors to larger opportunities. Vicki’s next challenge was building a substantial line of credit, growing rapidly to more than $650K.
In 2003, Vicki received the Minority Small Business Person of the Year Award from the Small Business Administration. She believes success comes from diversification, especially across recent lean years.
“We never keep all of our eggs in one basket and constantly consider new lines of work. Networking is a critical strategy, and we’ve built many types of relationships: building owners and managers, realty-management companies, and large general contractors such as Turner and Driscoll—as well as education projects typically done quickly during summer months.”
Her strategy works: Vicki’s company just finished restoring the façade of 1500 Market Street at Center Square, Philadelphia’s largest concrete structure.
“Nothing stays the same,” says Vicki. “You have to evolve.”
For Old Philadelphia, the sky’s the limit.
This article was featured in Cabrini Magazine.